ROBBO DENIED

Posted on 5 November 2007
- 12:00

Paul Robinson acknowledged that it was a fine strike that denied him a clean sheet in the 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Paul Robinson acknowledged that it was a fine strike that denied him a clean sheet in the 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough on Saturday.The lead secured through Darren Bent ten minutes before the break was cancelled out just over five minutes after when the ball was dispatched in the direction of Luke Young, who proceeded to drill an unstoppable shot past the England No.1 and into the top corner of the net.

It dashed Robbo's desire for a second clean sheet of the week, although there was not a lot he could do about it.

"It was a great strike from Youngie, but I was still disappointed to concede," said the goalkeeper. "You can't beat yourself up over a goal like that though.

"We set out for a clean sheet and the coach has been working very hard with us. You are seeing the signs of it, but we have still got a little way to go and he will put a few more ideas into us. It has all been very positive.

"The first week has been different, he wants to get a lot of ideas across and we are working hard on the training ground. I am sure we will be doing a lot more work between now and Thursday's game in the UEFA Cup.

"We have made a good start with a win and a draw and hopefully we will continue unbeaten," added Robbo, who pointed out that training ground time is limited due to the busy fixture schedule.

"That is the difficult thing, we are putting things straight into games at the moment as they are coming thick and fast. That is a good thing in a way because we want to get out of the situation we are in, hopefully we will get a good result in the UEFA Cup and then pick it up in the league.

"I don't think anybody expected us to be down there, but the reality is that we are there. We've got to pull together as a group and get ourselves away from it. A point here is a start and hopefully we can build on it when we face Wigan at home next week.

"You look at the quality we've got, not just up front but in midfield as well, we are always going to score goals and that has never been our problem - our goals record is up with the best.

"We've got to shore things up at the back, but it is not just the defenders, it starts at the front and gaffer wants to get us defending as a team."